Place Names (W) Waterside - Wylie Place

Waterside (1) Alexandria

The name Waterside is used for three locations in the Vale.
This one refers to a short lane and a couple of tenement buildings which used
to run from the towpath at Linnbrain Hole to Bank Street on the east side of
the railway line. Part of this lane is now Ferry Loan. In the old days Craft
workers used it as a short cut, and until quite recently there was a swing
gate at its towpath end.

Waterside (2), The, Vale

“The Waterside” was a
generic name for the old towpath on the west bank of the Leven, anywhere from
Balloch to Renton. Usually it was prefaced by “round”, as in “I'm
going round the waterside to Millburn” - hardly surprising when
you consider the number of bends in the Leven

Waterside Place, Renton

As its name suggests, this faced the
River from Burn Street to Stirling Street, with houses only on the west side.
The houses disappeared bit by bit from the 1930's onwards, but
had all gone by the early 1960's.

Wee Field, the, Bonhill

These textile works lay in a sort of
cramped triangle between Main Street, the Churchyard and the river at Bonhill,
and its name suggests itself from how little space the Works occupied.
It was built about 1793 and demolished about 1840 disappearing completely
without trace - except for a couple of excellent prints. At the
Works peak, it employed nearly 200 people - about half of them
men, 60 children and the rest women.

Wee Hell, Alexandria

This was the nickname of a notorious two-storey
tenement to-wards the bottom of Bank Street on its south side, which
earned its name by the lawless behaviour of its tenants. The normally
bad behaviour took a turn for the even worse in 1860 when a Pat Lunnay
or Looney murdered a fellow tenant.

Lunnay was duly executed in January
1861, being the last person to be publicly executed in front of the old
jail in Dumbarton. One can feel sure that Lunnay would happily have foregone
this distinction. His was not the last execution in Dumbarton jail - that
was in 1875.

Whirley Close, Renton

This was a short cut between Back Street
and Main Street about halfway between Station Street and King Street.
It exited Main Street via a pen, ran past a row of single story houses
which ran at right angles to the houses in Main Street in behind them,
and exited via a close into Back Street close to the old Police Station.
It disappeared in the demolitions of the late 1950's.

White Dyke, Balloch

This is the name of the wall that still
runs along the southern boundary of Balloch Park at the Moss of Balloch Park.
When it was built in the middle of the 19th century it was a great bone
of contention with locals who believed that they had the right of access
up the banks of the Leven to the Loch Shore, and it remained controversial
right up until the Balloch Castle Estate was acquired by Glasgow Corporation
in 1915 and the public got access to the whole estate - although
not via the White Dyke.

By the early 20th century it symbolised all of
the public access issues to the Leven and Loch at Balloch. Although the
occasional hole appeared in it under Corporation ownership, a gate was
not made in it until the Vale District Council became the Park managers
in the early 1970's. Now, of course, there are many points of access
through the wall. It got its name because it was whitewashed when it
was first built, but that was not replaced when it washed off, and it
appears “light” rather than “white” in most early
pictures of it.

White Stane (Stone), Bonhill

The Bonhill burn flows under the road near Hillbank street
and emerges into the river Leven in the Glebe park behind Bonhill south church.
Where it emerges it is funnelled out through a section which has a wall on
both sides, which was built from the local red sandstone. This walled
section gradually widens as it nears the river and towards the end is the "White
Stane", a stone in the wall formed from white sandstone.

Jumping from one side of the burn to the other at the white
stane was a rite of passage amongst young boys from Bonhill. This is quite
a jump, made even more impressive by the fact that failing to make it means
a drop of about five foot into the burn perhaps clipping your chin on the edge
of the wall on the way down. Ouch!

Wilkie Place, Levenvale

This small cul-de-sac off of Burns
Street, Levenvale was the location of the last “Hut” left standing
in Levenvale. It survived all the others by about 30 years, and was put to
good use as a community hall for many years. It was not named separately from
the rest of Burn Street while it was a Hut, but when modern houses were erected
on the site, they were named after Jock Wilkie, who had been a Labour District
Councillor in the Vale in the 1940's and 50's. There had also been
a prominent Parish Councillor by the same name about 60 years previously, but
it was the more recent of the Wilkies after whom Wilkie Place was named.

Wilson
Street, Alexandria

This is one of Alexandria's older Streets, having been
begun in the 1830's, when it marked Alexandria's northern boundary.
Over the next 20 –30 years all of the red sandstone buildings were steadily
added to give it the length and appearance it has to day. The second Vale FC
ground was at the bottom of Wilson Street, between it and the railway.

The
Vale of Leven gasworks occupied the site bounded by Wilson Street, North Street
and Lennox Street now occupied by small workshops, some of which have been
allowed to become derelict. A wall with bricked up windows on the south side
of Wilson street is all that remains of the old gas-works, which closed in
the late 1950's. The Street probably took its name from the County Road
Surveyor at the time that it was first laid down.

Woman's / Wumman's
House, Bonhill

This terraced building was built in the 1870's in Dillichip
Loan, Bonhill, to house migratory female workers. It was built by Sir Archibald
Orr Ewing who by then owned the adjacent Dillichip Works, and who had a thing
about building terraces.

He also built the Jamestown Terraces. As if to emphasise
the chaste intention of this terrace, it stood in splendid isolation. Eventually,
it was converted into family flats and then Roberts Engineering converted it
to a light engineering and fabrication factory. When they moved out, the Wumman's
house was demolished in the early 1970's.

Woodbank / Stockrogert / Stuckendroin,
Balloch

The former Woodbank Hotel on the outskirts
of Balloch stood on a very old estate, which had gone by a number of
names over the centuries. These included Stockrogert and Stuckendroin
from medieval times, when it is mentioned quite frequently in charters.
In the late 18th century it is still called Stuckenrogert, but sometime
in the 1840's it appears as Woodbank - an anodyne name, with no
local meaning - and it has been Woodbank ever since.

The Palladian
building of the present day was built about 1775, around a building at
least 100 years older. Over the years it was owned by, amongst others,
Mr Horrocks who also owned the adjacent Tullichewan Estate and was responsible
for the completion of Tullichewan Castle, and at the turn of the 20th
century, by Mr William Ewing-Gilmour, who paid for the building of a
number of prominent Vale buildings and after whom Gilmour Street is named.

He sold Woodbank in 1921, and it remained a private residence
until 1937, when it was converted into a fairly up-market, very well regarded
hotel that was run by the Jack family for many years. (They were no relation
of the Jack family who owned the Railway Tavern in Alexandria). The building
of the Alexandria bypass and the re-alignment of the A82 all the way
to Arden in the early 1970's meant that it lost its passing trade
and went into decline.

It changed hands in the late 1970's and
was closed for a time, to be re-opened in 1979 as the Hamilton House
Hotel. The change of name did not change its fortunes, and it eventually
closed. A fire in January 1996 badly damaged the Woodbank. It appears
to be pretty derelict, in spite of being on the list of Buildings of
Historic interest, maintained by the Scottish Civic Trust. It is very
surprising to many that the House remains unused and undeveloped in some
way.

Woodburn Avenue, Haldane

This road on the southern edge of
the Haldane overlooking the Inler playing fields, was built in the last phase
of the Haldane, and really belongs in a Jamestown re-development grouping
of the late 1950's / early 1960's. It is on a green-field
site backing onto the old Inler track, and provides an additional exit
/ entry to the Haldane Estate, as well as a crossing for the Carrochan
Burn at a convenient spot.

Given its surroundings - the woods
of the Inler and the Carrochan Burn - you could be forgiven for thinking
that it was a made-up, joined-up name. In fact there are two other likely sources for the name. Firstly, there is a nearby house called Woodburn Cottage, which dates back well into the 19th century. That would have been an appropriate source, but on the other hand none of the other old houses or cottages nearby has had streets named after them. Given the Council’s penchant at the time for calling streets after Labour politicians the clincher for the name may have been Arthur Woodburn, Labour Secretary of State for Scotland 1947 -50.

Wylie Avenue, Burnbrae

This short thoroughfare in Burnbrae,
Alexandria was built in the 1930's and consists of attractive red sandstone
terraces and semi-detached houses. It is named after Mr Alexander Wylie, owner
of Cordale and Dalquhurn and later an original partner in the UTR when it was
formed in 1898. In addition, he was the Liberal Unionist (i.e. Conservative)
MP for Dunbartonshire from 1895 - 1906, when he retired.

Wylie Park,
Renton

These playing fields at the south end of
Renton grew out of the original Renton Public Park and are named after
Mr Alexander Wylie, of Cordale House, MP 1895 - 1906, owner of
Cordale and Dillichip works, and later partner in the UTR when it was
formed.

He was also President of Renton FC for a time, so it was apt
that playing fields, which include football pitches, were named after
him.

The ground has been Renton's public park for more than a century,
hosting everything from Highland Games to Gala Days. Perhaps its football
fields give it its defined character. Derby matches of the 1950 and 60's
between the then Juvenile teams of Renton Select and Renton Juveniles
were played with the fervour and intensity - not to say temporary
hostility - the equal of anything the Old Firm could muster.

Many
future professional players first caught the eye at the Wylie Park. That
tradition continues, with the Park still full of teams and spectators
most Saturdays and Sundays, and it is still a focal point of the village.

Wylie
Place, Renton

This cul-de-sac lies where Stirling Street
becomes Cordale Avenue at the south end of the New Cordale Estate. It
is named after the same Alexander Wylie as the Park. This is quite appropriate
since his family were the last owners of Cordale House and he lived only
yards away for much of his life.

"For those we loved are scattered,
and some in death sleep soun',
and the old oak tree sae bonnie,
has long since been cut doon".